2. Open excel 2007. Decide what information is needed and create column headings for each set of data. Start in column B and put: Student last name Student first name Student guardian name Student mailing address City, state, zip code Phone number Gender pronoun Gender article Then homework 1-4 and quizzes 1- 2, test 1, participation, unit 1 average, current average, and comments

3. In rows 2-7 in column A write 1,2,3,4,5,6 for the students number The fill in information from Students last name to participation. Make sure to do this for all students. In row 8 column B write Total In row 9 column B write average.

4.  Now we’re going to calculate the total and the average’s  To get the total click on the box under all the homework for unit 1. the go to the top where you can type in what goes in the box and write “=sum(L2:L7)” without the quotes.  Then click below where you just got the total and type into the top box “=AVERAGE(L2:L7)” without the quotes again.  After you get both of these numbers for that column of grades click the bottom corner of the box where the average is you just calculated. Click and drag to the box where the test 1 total and average needs to go (this is just filling it in without needing to calculate each individually)

5.  All that we should have left to fill in are the unit average, current average, and comments  To get the unit average click on the first box under unit average and type this in at the top “=0.2*(AVERAGE(L2:O2))+0.3*(AVERAGE(P2:Q2))+0.5* R2” (no quotes again)  Then like we filled in for the total and average on the bottom fill down from box T2-T7  Next we have to get the current average  To do that click on the first empty box under current average  Type in the box “=0.9*T2+0.1*S2” (no quotes)  And the just like we did to fill in the unit average fill in the current average.

6. Now all that is left is comments At the bottom of the page you will see it says sheet 1 sheet 2 and sheet 3. Click on sheet two, which will be blank and fill in as follows A1-0 A2-60 A3-65 A4-70 A5-75 A6-80 A7-85 A8-90 A9-95 A10-100 Then in column B next to each grade write in comments like a 0 is “need conference with teacher” and 100 is “WOW! Awesome job”

7. Now go back to the first page and click the first box under comments Flick on the fx where we have been writing our equations Select category- all The function you want is “Vlookup” The under look up value- current average write U2 Under table write $Comments!$A$1:$B$10 Under col_ind_num write 2 And then under range look up write true Then after this is in click and pull down like we did to fill in for others.

8.  Above is the link of what it should look like.

9.  To begin mail merging we first open Microsoft word 2007.  At the top of the page write the address for the school you are working for (made up)  Click on mailings  Click on start mail merge then letters.  Click select recipients and click existing list.  Click on our document we made in excel.  Click insert merge field and click Guardian names. Then click their address, town, state, zip  Then insert the date by going to insert and then date and time

10. Then we are going to make the letter. It will look like this: Dear(insert guardian name), Today is the five week mark of the third term. I wanted to inform each of the parents/guardians how their students are doing to date. Below is a list of grades from the most recent unit. (student name)’s participation grade, and (gender pronoun) course average. If I may be of any further assistance please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, Elena Blakesley Note: Wherever it says insert make sure you go to insert merge field and click the appropriate link

11. At the bottom of the page we are going to insert the grades. Type homework's 1-3 and insert (homework 1, homework 2 and homework 3) then do the same for quizzes and the test. Also insert the current average and the comments. After all the is in there go to merge and finish. This will finish the letters for you You should have 5 letters to 5 different student’s parents.